RETIREMENTPLANS...FIND ONE THAT'S
RIGHT FOR YOU.
RIGHT FOR YOU.
IS A REVERSE
MORTGAGE
RIGHT FOR YOU?
MORTGAGE
RIGHT FOR YOU?
Recommended links
National Alliance of
Market Developers
National Alliance of
Market Developers
| IMPORTANT NEWS Periodically, e-mails warning of a scam involving calls from the 809 area code circulate. The e-mails contend that there has been fraud associated with unscrupulous pay-per-call operators in that area code. However, the message contains some misinformation, especially the highly exaggerated cost of a phone call to the 809 area code, which is a legitimate area code for the Dominican Republic. Fortunately, this scam is less prevalent in recent years as a result of work done by AT&T to eliminate access to fraudulent pay-per-call operators. This long distance phone scam causes consumers to inadvertently incur high charges on their phone bills. Consumers usually receive a message telling them to call a phone number with an 809, 284 or 876 area code in order to collect a prize, find out information about a sick relative, etc. The caller assumes the number is a typical three-digit U.S. area code; however, the caller is actually connected to a phone number outside the United States, often in Canada or the Caribbean, and charged international call rates. Unfortunately, consumers don't find out that they have been charged higher international call rates until they receive their bill. AT&T offers the following information and tips: Return calls to familiar numbers only. As a general rule, return calls from numbers that contain familiar or recognizable area codes. You may call your directory assistance or long distance operator to check the area code location. Carefully read your telephone bill. Make sure that you only receive charges from your provider of choice. Ensure you thoroughly understand charges listed on your phone bill, have chosen to do business with all of the listed providers billing for those charges and have authorized additional fees invoiced. If your local service provider has changed, you will receive a final bill from the former provider and a notice of service disconnection. If you believe that you have been scammed: Contact the carrier with whom the charge originated, whose name and toll-free telephone number should be printed on the same bill page as the charge in question. Often, the problem can be resolved with a single phone call. If the carrier with whom the charge originated does not agree to resolve the problem, contact AT&T. AT&T will work with you and the carrier to help remove fraudulent charges from the phone bill. You may file a complaint online with the Federal Communications Commission about this and/or related phone scams. IRS Warning: Tax Season Scams Identity thieves have a new technique this year to make their IRS tax scam seem more credible. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that fraudulent e-mail is circulating that purports to come from the IRS. The e-mail includes attachments of letters on real IRS letterhead and real IRS forms. The victim is instructed to fill out the forms, including social security numbers, and to fax the forms to a phone number. Thieves hope the authentic-looking documents and the use of a fax will trick an otherwise skeptical recipient into disclosing their social security number. In previous years, victims were asked to send their social security number in e-mail or to enter it on a website. Some scams offer help expediting your tax refund or reference the 2008 Economic Stimulus rebate. Other attacks instruct you to download documents containing harmful keystroke logging software designed to steal your passwords, bank account and credit card numbers. According to the Inquirer, the IRS wants taxpayers to hear one message loud and clear: "The Internal Revenue Service does not communicate with taxpayers via unsolicited e-mail," said J. Russell George, US Treasury inspector general for tax administration. "Some of these bogus e-mails are so sophisticated that people who are uninformed can and do fall prey to this type of scam. That is why it is so imperative that we continue to get this message out to people." All of the One Step Ahead: Security and Privacy tips and RSS feed can be found at www.upenn.edu/computing/security/footprints |
PEOPLES WORLD WIDE WEB
Our Mission...
To give you information to
help build wealth, eliminate
debt and help you avoid the
latest scams.
help build wealth, eliminate
debt and help you avoid the
latest scams.
 | |  | |  | |  |
| WORLD OF FINANCE |
| ©2008 Love Child Media Works |
THE SKINNY ON SCAMS
